In conference settings where a speaker is presenting an informational lecture or talk accompanied by visual slides or presentation materials, the speaker's attention is often directed to the presentation materials projected on a screen behind the presenter, and the presenter is further distracted by the process of fully describing the details contained in the images being presented, which usually appear in outline form in the presentation materials, or occasionally with visual detail the speaker uses as a prompt to describe the various aspects of the presentation which is present in the projected image. The expansion of concepts shown in the slides into the spoken comments of the presentation can consume greatly varying intervals of time from presentation to presentation, as the same set of images may be used in a range of presentations to different audiences. In a presentation to an audience of generalists, many details may be omitted in favor of general concepts, whereas when the presentation is delivered to an audience of peers or other specialists, additional details may be described at great length. This presents a challenge to the organizer of a conference who is responsible for keeping the conference program on a timely schedule, which is typically accomplished by allocating a fixed interval of time for each presenter, optionally with an additional increment of time allocated for interactive questions and answers with the speaker. It is a commonplace occurrence at a research conference for a researcher to become emotionally invested in describing the work he or she has been advancing over the course of the months or years, and during delivery of the talk become quite caught up in the excitement of the discovery being presented, or in describing details of an intricate aspect which may be of special interest to a particular audience, causing the presenter to completely lose track of time.
In one prior art system, a light panel with a green lamp, yellow lamp, and red lamp are placed on the podium, but a speaker who is wrapped up in his or her presentation often becomes oblivious to these visual warnings, particularly when facing the presentation screen while using a laser pointer to highlight regions of the slide being presented, which places the warning light panel at the presenter's back and out of visual range.
In another prior art device, a visual indication is incorporated into the projector system using software. A problem arises in this type of system where the projector is provided by the facility, and the projector operates as a video peripheral with the video interface connected to the presenter's laptop or portable computer which contains the presentation but may not have time management software installed. A similar problem arises where the presenter is using transparencies or other media which are projected onto a reflective screen for viewing, for which no computer or display peripheral may be in use by the presenter.
It is desired to provide a visual indication of time remaining in a presentation, or track the progress in the presentation, using an apparatus which does not rely on the use of a particular software installed on the presenter's computer, is under the conference organizer's control, and is visible to the presenter by appearing directly on the screen that displays his or her presentation.